Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Solomon Islands and from Jakarta.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lagos and Winnipeg.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Milan kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Robert Palmer started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Robert Wyatt to the dance kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by the Bar-Kays. All the underground hits.
All Kool G Rap & DJ Polo tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Kinks record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your marimba and bought a güiro.
I hear that you and your band have sold your güiro and bought a marimba.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Ituana,
Robert Wyatt,
John Holt,
the Soft Cell,
Quadrant,
Charles Mingus,
Agitation Free,
Sarah Menescal,
The Remains,
Harry Pussy,
Erykah Badu,
The Birthday Party,
The Dead C,
Johnny Clarke,
Vainqueur,
Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks,
Ash Ra Tempel,
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,
Tommy Roe,
Magazine,
H. Thieme,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Rufus Thomas,
Glambeats Corp.,
Idris Muhammad,
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft,
Spoonie Gee,
The Leaves,
The Residents,
Severed Heads,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
the Sonics,
Brand Nubian,
Godley & Creme,
Hoover,
Quando Quango,
Circle Jerks,
Tubeway Army,
Todd Terry,
Bootsy's Rubber Band,
Marcia Griffiths,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Alice Coltrane,
Country Teasers,
Eve St. Jones,
The United States of America,
Second Layer,
Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud,
Masters at Work,
The Kinks,
Röyhkä ja Rättö ja Lehtisalo,
Kevin Saunderson,
Tim Buckley,
Lalann,
Radiohead,
Peter and Kerry,
Radio Birdman,
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap,
Frankie Knuckles,
Bush Tetras,
Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub, Stereo Dub.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.